Mystique
'''Mystique' (born Raven Darkholme) is a mutant with the ability to shapeshift into anyone and also copy their voice. Biography Early Life Little is known of Raven's life prior to her break-in into the Xavier Mansion. However, from what she revealed in X-Men and X-Men: The Last Stand, her early life was rather tragic. As a little child, her mutation was so abnormal to others that she feared going to school. Additionally, her parents, also fearful of her mutation, had at one point tried to kill her. Eventually, after years of abuse, Raven ran away. ''X-Men: First Class One night, in 1944 at a mansion in Westchester County, New York, Raven Darkholme first met Charles Xavier, when she was caught by him while going through the cupboards searching for food in the kitchen, and was disguised as his mother when Charles found her. After he caught her, a young Charles accuses his "mother" of being an impostor, and asks what she has done with his real mother. He revealed his power of reading minds, explaining that his mother would not make him a sandwich or hot chocolate, at which point, Mystique shifts back to her normal, blue-skinned form, and the 2 mutants formally introduced each other. Overjoyed to meet someone else "different" like him, Charles says Raven can come stay and live with him and his family, and she can never be hungry again. They both started a friendship and become adoptive foster siblings. 18 years later, in 1962, in England, Oxford University graduate Xavier is publishing his thesis on mutation; Raven, now his foster sister, and a waitress, lives with him. One night at a restaurant Charles met and flirted with a woman named Amy, calling her heterochromia a mutation. She was offended by this until Charles explained that mutation took them from single-celled organisms to the most dominant form of reproductive life on the planet. She then called herself "Mutant and Proud". Raven, who was watching from a nearby table, approached them asking if she had to buy her own drink. Charles introduced the girls to each other, at which point Raven, fed up with Charles' antics, feigned heterochromia using her shape-shifting abilities. Charles and Raven left, the latter angry at his sister for ruining his chances. Raven used Amy's statement later. Raven stayed with Charles when he graduated from Oxford. That night, Moira MacTaggert seeks Xavier's advice on mutation, and takes Xavier and Raven to the CIA to convince the chief that Shaw is a threat. Raven, along with Xavier, displayed their abilities to a group of government CIA agents in order to convince them that mutants really existed, among them The Man in Black and Moira MacTaggert. It was Raven who convinced the government that mutants did exist by demonstrating her shape-shifting abilities. After convincing them that mutants exist they are to be taken to a covert facility, but first Xavier tracks down Shaw. During a failed attempt to capture Sebastian Shaw, Raven and Xavier met Erik Lehnsherr. Lehnsherr joins Xavier and Raven at the CIA facility, where they meet Hank McCoy, another mutant that Xavier accidentally exposes. Hank became instantly smitten with her, and a budding attraction was evident between them. Hank revealed that he had been working on a serum to cure his physical mutation but leave his abilities intact. He believed that Raven's ability to alter her appearance would hold the key to perfecting it. He requested a sample of her blood, during which they shared each others' wish to appear "normal", as well as a kiss. Soon, Xavier and Lehnsherr went to find more mutants, who were then sent to Division X. The mutants included were Angel Salvadore, Sean Cassidy, Alex Summers, Armando Muñoz, and Hank McCoy; they formed the original team of X-Men. The facility is attacked by Azazel, Riptide and Shaw, with all the guards being killed. Shaw successfully recruits Angel, with Darwin feigning joining him. Havok attempts to attack Shaw, with everyone taking cover, but he absorbs Havok's attack and kills Darwin by forcing him to ingest a massive amount of energy. When Lehnsherr and Xavier return they begin to train the mutants, though Raven is conflicted about hiding her natural form. Erik's constant validation of her true beauty and self overturned her opinion, and when Hank finished the serum she refused to take it. Hank injected himself and underwent a radical transformation, which resulted in him taking on a more bestial appearance. During the Cuban Missile Crises, before taking off, Hank arrived and explained that the serum had the opposite effect he'd intended: it enhanced his mutation instead of dampening it. Though initially ashamed, Raven assured Hank that it was okay, as he is now his true self, and he shouldn't be ashamed. Hank nods in agreement, just before Erik says Hank never looked better. Hank, however, takes this as insult, believing Erik is mocking him, chokes him, until Charles tells him to let Erik go, which he does; Erik informs Hank that he wasn't mocking him. Havok then came up with a new name for Hank: Beast. The X-Men then take off in the Blackbird Beast designed, with him piloting and MacTaggart as his co-pilot. The X-Men arrive at the battle sight, and after a crash-landing, due to Riptide, the team takes battle positions with Havok defeating Riptide, Magneto searches for Shaw, and Beast battling Azazel. Charles orders Mystique to stay in the ship and cover the entrance, which she reluctantly complies to. During the fight against the enemy mutants, after Beast and Azazel engage in a brutal fight, and, as Azazel prepares to kill Beast with his prehensile tail, Mystique, in the disguise of Shaw orders Azazel to stand down. With Azazel distracted, Beast finally knocks him out with the help of Mystique. Instrumental in stopping the Cuban Missile Crisis and foiling the Hellfire Club's bid for world domination, the team eventually split when Lehnsherr asserted that humans would never accept mutants and opted to assert rule over them instead of waiting to be interred and executed. After Charles' spine was hit by MacTaggart's bullets, Mystique went to Charles side, and bid each other farewell, telling MacTaggart to take care of Charles. Raven, who had become something of a protégé to Magneto, opted to join him and helped form the Brotherhood of Mutants with his new team from the Hellfire Club. When the remaining mutants left to form the Brotherhood of Mutants with Lehnsherr, Raven told a saddened Hank to remember to be proud that he was a mutant before being teleported away. She helped rescue Emma Frost with Lehnsherr (now calling himself Magneto), Angel, Azazel, and Riptide. Original Timeline X-Men: Days of Future Past In 1973, following Magneto's imprisonment at the hands of the Pentagon after the murder of John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Mystique was left on her own to carry out his agenda. She traveled to Saigon, Vietnam, posing as a general orders his way into a bunker containing Havok, Mortimer Toynbee, Eric Gitter, Daniels, and other mutant GIs in the care of Major William Stryker, as they are being quarantined. Stryker and his men arrive to take them to Trask Industries so they can be tested on, but the general reveals himself to be Mystique, who attacks the troops. The mutant soldiers also help in taking down the men. Afterwards, Mystique uses her general disguise to get the mutants on a plane to safely return them America. Havok ask if she's coming but she replies that she has to fight a bigger battle. Later, Mystique disguises herself as Trask and sneaks into Trask Industries, successfully infiltrating his office, where she finds autopsy files confirming his experimentation and murder of mutants, including Azazel, Angel, and other unidentified mutants that were experimented on, which makes her cry heavily and go after Trask. The night before the summit, Mystique travels to Paris and poses as a North Vietnamese general, aiming to intercept a meeting with Trask at the Paris Peace Conference and kill him. The next morning when Bolivar Trask, accompanied by Stryker, were going to show off the X-Gene detector to the Vietnamese officials it gave off strong reactions on one of the Generals and exposed the General as Mystique. She transformed to her normal self and knocked out everybody but Trask. During the Paris Peace Conference, Mystique reveals her true identity, dispatching the guards and shoots Trask dead. However, Mystique was quickly subdued by William Stryker, who recovers, tasers her, and brings her in for experimentation. She went through countless experiments that torture her. The killing caused governments worldwide to fear Mutants and initiate the Sentinel Program. Eventually Mystique's DNA was replicated and installed into the most recent Sentinels, wherein the nature of her powers are distilled and used to enable the Sentinels to adapt to counter mutant abilities. Trask becomes a martyr for the anti-mutant movement. X-Men Years later, Raven (now known as Mystique) impersonated Henry Guyrich, (aide to Senator Kelly) as part of a plan to kidnap Kelly and turn him into a mutant, thereby ending his support of the Mutant Registration Act. One day, anti-mutant crowd cheers at Senator Kelly as he gets out of his limousine and into a helicopter. Inside, he talks to someone about the vote on the Mutant Registration Act. The man sitting next to him, Henry Gyrich, asks if he will speak in the UN summit, as the whole world will be watching. Kelly says that he is only worried about America, not the rest of the world, and that if it were up to him, he would lock all mutants away. He says that it's war, and that it's the reason people like him exist. Looking outside the window, he sees the ocean. He gets confused and wonders there they are, as Gyrich morph to the true form of a blue-skinned woman – the shapeshifter, Mystique – another of Magneto's minions. Kelly is terrified, and shouts for the pilot. Mystique subdues him, saying that people like him are the reason she was afraid to go to school as a child. She then kicks him until he is knocked out cold, and goes to sit next to the pilot – revealed to be Toad. They then fly to Magneto's island base. In Magneto's base, Kelly is bound to a metal chair. Mystique, Sabretooth and Toad are standing in the dark around him, hardly moving. A bird flies by, and Toad immediately shoots out his long tongue to catch it, much to Kelly's disgust. Magneto enters and quips to the senator that Toad has a wicked tongue, just like him. He asks them who they are and where Henry is, and Magneto answers that Mr. Gyrich has been dead for quite some time and Mystique has been impersonating him in the mean time. Kelly tells them that if they will hurt him, they will only prove him right, but Magneto does not seem to care. Mystique then looks on as Magneto uses his machine on the senator. When Professor X reads Kelly's mind, he enters his memory of Magneto turning him to a mutant, and Mystique helping him out of the machine. Magneto looks tired and weak from the process. One morning, in Xavier's schoolyard, Rogue is sitting on a bench and looks at the others playing. Iceman shows up and sits next to her. He is angry at her for what happened with Wolverine, saying that mutants should never use their powers against other mutants. She tries defending herself, saying that she had no choice, but he just tells her that if he were she, he would get himself out of there. She asks him what does he mean, and he answers that the students are freaked out, while Professor Xavier is furious. Cruelly, he tells her that she should go, and she gets up and walks away, almost crying. As she walks away, Bobby smiles, and his eyes glow yellow for a moment, showing that it was actually Mystique, who successfully tricks Rogue into thinking she is not wanted at the school due to the incident the previous night. Back in the mansion, the real Bobby is walking with his friends. One of them asks him when the last time he saw Rogue was, and Bobby answers that she was supposed to meet him for lunch. They walk away and an elevator opens. Out of it comes the Bobby-disguised Mystique, with a wicked smile. Mystique, as Bobby, is walking in the sub-basement area of the mansion, then bends down in front of Cerebro's door and changes his eyes to those of Xavier. The computer recognizes him as Professor X, and he enters while morphing to "his" true form – Mystique. She puts some sort of device in Cerebro and a tank of blue liquid turns an ominous green. When Professor X attempts to use Cerebro again, the green liquid Mystique planted suddenly knocks him unconscious, and he faints and falls off his wheelchair. On the boat approaching the Statue of Liberty on Liberty Island, Mystique enters a room where Magneto and Rogue are. Magneto comments that the Statue of Liberty is magnificent, and Rogue says that she has seen it. Magneto says that he first saw it in 1949, and mockingly quotes how America was going to be the land of tolerance and peace. She asks him if he is going to kill her, and he answers with a simple "yes". She asks why, and says that it's because there is neither tolerance nor peace, not there, not anywhere. Now, he is going to turn the world leaders into mutants, just like them – making them all act in favor of mutants. The sacrifice of Rogue, he says, will ensure the survival of the mutant race. He orders Mystique to put her in the machine, and he will put her up on the statue. The X-Men arrive on Liberty Island and start walking carefully in the hall, but Toad and Mystique are already waiting for them, hidden. Logan's senses pick on them, and he tells the others that there is someone there, but he does not know where, and says "keep your eye open" as a joke on Cyclops' expense. Out of nowhere, another Wolverine shows up and starts battling Logan, and the others aren't sure anymore who's real and who's Mystique. They both pop their claws and start slicing the place, as Toad hops on the other three and throws all of them to the floor. Elsewhere, Mystique has an extended fight with Wolverine, shifts back to her true form and manages to outmaneuver Wolverine, proving to be too nimble for him to hit. Mystique tried to distract Wolverine by impersonating Storm. She approaches him and asks if it is him, but Wolverine silences her; he uses his senses and tells her that the other one is not far away. She says that they have to regroup, and Wolverine says that there is a problem – she is not part of the group, and then unsheathed his claws in her stomach. She morphs to Mystique, and then falls to the ground; Mystique cannot mask her scent, as such, Wolverine saw through the ruse and defeated her. Magneto tries contacting Mystique, but she does not respond. She survives, however, and morphs into the form of a fallen police officer. As a result, she is able to slip past the police that descend on the building. At the end of the film, she is seen on television, impersonating Senator Kelly in order to withdraw his support of the Mutant Registration Act. Cyclops pauses the television in a specific second, showing his eyes glowing yellow – revealing that it's actually Mystique. X2: X-Men United Mystique has been using her powers to pose as Senator Robert Kelly as a means to gain access to Magneto's plastic prison. She infiltrates Colonel William Stryker's office by impersonating Stryker's aid, Lady Deathstrike, gaining details about the prison as well as learning of plans for another Cerebro, "Dark Cerebro". She eventually manages to seduce and trick one of the prison's security guards, drugs him, and injects something into him. When the guard later arrives at the prison, Magneto extracts the contents of Mystique's injection; Mystique had injected him with enough liquid iron for Magneto to work with, and Magneto is able to create small balls of metal, which he uses to destroy his prison and escape. After helping him escape from prison, she joins his brief alliance with the X-Men. While camped in an unknown forest area, she attempts to seduce Wolverine while disguised as Jean Grey, but the scar from their previous battle gives her away. She then shifts through several forms (Storm, Rogue, then Stryker), asking him what he really wants. Prior to this, she is approached by Nightcrawler, who asks her why she doesn't use her shape-shifting powers to blend in with normal people, to which she replies, "Because we shouldn't have to." Magneto, Mystique, and the remaining X-Men stage their assault on the facility, by having Mystique infiltrate disguised as Wolverine in order to gain entry to Alkali Lake. Stryker orders his guards to let "Wolverine" in, as he believes his experiment has finally decided to come home. Somehow Mystique's disguise doesn't fool Stryker. Mystique quickly incapacitates the soldiers and manages to gain access and take control of the control room, opening up the main gates so that the X-Men can enter the Alkali Lake Facility. From there she aids in the rescue of several captured mutants and leads the group to Dark Cerebro. Magneto and Mystique kill the rest of Stryker's men, and Magneto stops Jason and Xavier before Cerebro kills any mutants. Disguised as Stryker, Mystique uses Jason to convince Xavier to kill every human in the world, though this is ultimately foiled. Mystique and Magneto use Stryker's helicopter to escape Alkali Lake, chaining Stryker to concrete rubble. As they were taking off Raven noticed Pyro and allowed him to board the helicopter and leave with them. X-Men: The Last Stand Sometime following the events of the previous film, Mystique is captured by the government. During a meeting, the president hands Beast some papers and tells him that Homeland Security was tracking down Magneto. Secretary Bolivar Trask says that they had hits on several cities – they lost him, but got a consolation prize – Mystique. They picked her up breaking into the FDA of all places. He turns on a screen showing two interrogators questioning Mystique. The president tells Hank she was imitating Secretary Trask, and Hank says she can do that. Not any more, says Trask – they got her. McCoy doubts they can hold her, but Trask says they'll keep her mobile. On the screen, the interrogator asks "Raven" a question, but she says she doesn't answer to that name. He tells her Raven Darkholme is her real name – or has Magneto convinced her she doesn't have a family any more? Mystique says her family tried to kill her, and he agrees to refer to her as "Mystique," asking where Magneto is. Avoiding answering, Mystique morphs to Magneto and replies "in here, with us." Annoyed, the interrogator says he doesn't want to play games, but Mystique simply morphs again, into him. Now furious, he tells her to stop and orders her to tell him where Magneto is. Suddenly, Mystique hits him with her head, tosses her chair at the other guy and jumps on the table, kicking them. She then jumps down behind the first guy and holds her handcuffs to his neck, choking him. Luckily, the other guy gets up and fights back. Some time later, on a road somewhere, a convoy is escorting a large truck somewhere. Inside the truck, a man who looks just like the president is chained to the wall behind bars, demanding they release him. The guard tells him to shut up, and the "president" morphs into a crying little girl, asking why they're doing this to her and begging to be let out. The guard threatens to spray her in the face if she keeps it up, and the girl promises that when she gets out of there, she'll kill him herself. He just laughs, and she morphs back to her true form as Mystique. When Magneto and Pyro walk inside of the convoy, Mystique has already managed to free herself completely from her cell. She tells her leader that it's about time they freed her, and he says he's been busy and asks if she found what she was looking for. She reveals to him that the source of the cure is a mutant – a child at Worthington Labs in Alcatraz – without him they have nothing. Magneto uses his powers to make a list from the floor fly to Pyro's hands, and orders his young follower to read off the guest list. Pyro reads from the list: "Cell 41205: James Madrox". Mystique explains that Jamie robbed 7 banks. Magneto bursts Madrox's cell open, and is surprised to see not one, but 6 identical Jamies walk out of it. Mystique completes her sentence, saying he robbed all 7 banks at the same time. Magneto tells Multiple Man he can use a man of his talents, and Jamie says he's in, absorbing all duplicates back into himself. Magneto welcomes him to the Brotherhood as they continue on to the next cell. Mystique tells them to be careful with this one, as Pyro reads on: "Cain Marko, solitary confinement. Prisoner must be confined at all times. If he builds any momentum, no object can stop him." Magneto says it's fascinating and tears the cell's door open, finding Cain confined in every part of his body. He asks Cain how they call him, and Cain responds "Juggernaut". Juggernaut demands to be let out, and Magneto opens all of Cain's confinements. Juggernaut jumps out of his cell. The guard, apparently not dead after all, wakes up just in time to hear Juggernaut telling Pyro about his helmet. As Magneto says Juggernaut will make a fine addition to his army, the guard loads his gun and aims it at Erik's back. Mystique realizes what's going on in the last second and yells "No!" standing between Magneto and the guard, taking the bullet herself. Except it's not a bullet at all – it's a dart, containing the mutant cure, and it hits Mystique in the chest. She takes out the dart and falls to the floor. Magneto then uses his powers to extract the gun, with Pyro throws a huge flame-thrower at the guard, this time killing him for good. Magneto and Pyro then turn their attention back to Mystique, who is quivering and shaking on the floor. Slowly, her back and shoulder gain normal human-skin appearance. Then, her face turns human. Last, her fingers lose their blue color and turn human. Mystique is no more – she is now just a human Raven Darkholme. Magneto sighs in great disappointment, as he sees his most loyal and skillful follower twitching on the floor, naked and human, covering her breast with one hand and staring in disbelief at the other hand. "You saved me," he says as she looks up at him, and then he turns away from her and starts leaving. She whispers his name, and he pauses and apologizes – but she's not one of them any more. As the mutants leave the truck, leaving the betrayed Raven behind and coldly abandoning her, Magneto tells Pyro that it's such a shame – she was so beautiful. Bitter over his betrayal, Mystique goes to the government and gives the location of his base. One night at the White House, the president and Trask are set to watch the capturing of Magneto on their screen through satellite feed of Magneto's base of operations in the forest. The picture on the screen shows a view of the camp, with many white dots marking every life form – meaning, every mutant in the camp. Puzzled, the president asks Trask how they found the base, and Trask explains that Raven Darkholme gave them everything they wanted and more. "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned," the president remarks. However, when they raid the camp, they find it populated entirely with duplicates of Multiple Man. It was unclear whether or not the cure wore off and Mystique's mutant powers returned, but it is suggested Magneto's did at the end of the film — revealed when he appeared to have moved a metallic chess piece without touching it, and is later confirmed to get all his powers back. X-Men: Days of Future Past In 2023, Mystique's whereabouts are unknown, having lost her abilities due to the mutant cure dispensed by Worthington Laboratories. It is assumed that she is captured in the camp of concentration or is killed by the Sentinels. Revised Timeline X-Men: Days of Future Past After Mystique reveals her true identity and dispatched the guards, he then picked up a gun and was about to shoot him when Logan, Charles, Erik and Hank interrupt as they've arrived to stop her. This gives Stryker the opportunity to tase Mystique. Magneto, however, re-directs the taser gun pins on to Stryker. Magneto understands that Mystique could be a danger to all mutants and he tries to kill her with the gun, as he is convinced her death will safeguard the future of mutant-kind. Mystique tells Charles to freeze Erik, but Erik informs her that Charles can't, as his powers are suppressed by the serum Hank designed for him. He doesn't succeed in killing Mystique, though as Mystique is forced on the run and jumps out the window, Erik manages to bend the bullet so that it hits her in the leg. They fight on the street outside and after a while Beast joins the fight. But when the police arrives they are forced to scatter. Mystique goes to the hospital in Paris to receive surgery for her wound, and leaves even more determined to kill Trask. When Magneto is looking for his helmet, he runs into Mystique who is angry with him for trying to kill her and says that she won't help him any more, while holding a knife to his neck. Though Erik tried to convince her that he and Charles received a message from the future about the Sentinels using her DNA, she didn't believe him before leaving. Mystique heads to Washington D.C., where Trask and Nixon plan to unveil the Sentinels as the answer to the threat posed by mutants. Xavier tracks Mystique's movements with Cerebro, and plans to intercept her. He finds Mystique in an airport and uses the people around her to talk to her but she refuses to listen. During the unveiling of the Sentinels, Mystique tries to shoot Trask, disguised as a Secret Service agent, but fails to do so as Charles mentally stops her. In the ensuing chaos wrought by Magneto's actions, Mystique manages to enter the President's bunker under the White House. Trask's mutant detector goes off inside the bunker, revealing Mystique, who attacks Stryker, and takes Stryker's plastic gun off him, as Magneto rips out the bunker and sets the cameras on him and is watched by many people, including Ink, Toad, and Quicksilver. He then takes their guns and points them at the men. Nixon comes out and tells Magneto to spare them and kill only him. Magneto however disagrees as the Sentinels were designed to kill all mutants, sparing no mutant. The President then transforms into Mystique, showing the real President behind her. She pulls up a plastic gun and shoots Magneto in the side of the neck, not to kill but to stun and graze him before proceeding to knock him out. Mystique then turns the gun at Trask, but as she is about to shoot and kill Trask him, Charles tells her, mentally, that if she doesn't, she can give mankind a second chance to correctly define mutants. Xavier pleads with her to make the right decision, ultimately leaving it up to her. Mystique sees the error of her ways, chooses not to kill Trask, and drops the gun, thus causing the dystopian apocalyptic future to be erased. While Magneto is still in shock she kicks of his helmet so that Charles can take control of him. He uses Magneto's powers to take away the metal debris and then sends him away after saying goodbye to both Mystique and him, having shown the world that a mutant saved the President. Her actions change the future with the Sentinel program now being cancelled and Trask being arrested for selling American military secrets. She is then seen rescuing Wolverine from the Potomac River, disguised as William Stryker. X-Men: Apocalypse ''To Be Added... ''X-Men: Days of Future Past In the revised 2023, Mystique's whereabouts are still unknown, but due to the possibility that the mutant 'cure' affair has also been erased, it can be presumed that she never lost her abilities. It is also implied that she may not have joined the Brotherhood and followed Charles' advice. Personality In the original films, Mystique was a cold, ruthless and evil woman who would kill without a second thought. This was a result of her being cruelly experimented on. In her childhood, Raven was very solitary, often hiding her true appearance for fear of judgement. When she first met Charles, she was happy that she found a place to live. In First Class, Mystique is shown to never once wavered to the dark side. Mystique hates it when people try to dictate how she should live her life, as shown when grew bitter at Charles for insisting that she hide her appearance. For this reason, she felt very alone inside. When she met Hank, she at first thought that she had finally found someone who understood her, but when Hank had developed a serum to counter their abilities, she started seeing him as no different than anyone else. When Erik encouraged her to be proud of her abilities and not be afraid of judgement, she had finally found what she was looking for: acceptance. This drove her closer to Erik and further from Charles. Mystique also appears to value her friendships dearly and appears to be devoted to helping other mutants. Before leaving with Magneto, she kissed Charles on the forehead, showing that she still cares for him. Though she felt guilty for abandoning her brother, she believed that this was the only way to help her fellow mutants. In 1973, Mystique seems to have adopted an aggressive and violent streak in her personality as a result of her training under Magneto. Though she still had compassion and altruism, demonstrated when she saved Havok and other mutants from Stryker and later when she sheds a few tears after learning that many of her other friends were experimented on and killed. With this knowledge, she planned on killing Trask to avenge her friends. Mystique also hates being betrayed, as shown when in X-Men Last Stand, she was angry that Magneto abandoned her after she was turned into a human. And in X-Men Days of Future Past, she developed a new hatred towards Magneto after he attempted to kill her, shown when she threatened him with a knife. After her injuries, she started to feel torn between her love for her brother, and her hatred for Trask. When Charles insisted that she ''has to come home, she sees that he hasn't changed at all and as a result, ignores him completely. This, along with Magneto's betrayal, made Raven feel isolated again as she now felt that no one understood her anymore. She finally reached a breaking point at the White House when she had a gun pointed at Trask. When Charles makes one last plea with her, she reasons that Erik's actions have already turned humanity against mutants. But when Charles states that she has a chance to show another way, she becomes hesitant. Charles then admits that him trying to control her is what brought them to this point and leaves the decision in her hands with complete faith in her. Mystique now knows that Charles finally understands what caused them to become estranged. With this knowledge, she ponders deeply on her next move, knowing that she must decide carefully. After a long silence, she finally realizes her mistake, and spares Trask. This not only saves all mutants, but it changes her for the better. Though still on her own, she no longer seems to possess malevolent intentions and seems to have forged a new path for herself. Now a heroic figure in the mutant world, Mystique Powers, Abilities, & Weaknesses Powers *'Shape-shifting' - Mystique can alter the formation of her biological cells at will. As a result she can cause herself to look and sound like an exact duplicate of any human of either sex, wearing virtually any kind of clothing. Her control is so exact that she can precisely duplicate another persons retina pattern in her own eyes, finger, palm and skin-pore patterns on her own hands and skin, and vocal cords to match voices to the point of corresponding voice-prints. She can also make herself look exactly like a person who is physically bigger than herself, though she will not weigh as much as the real person does. Her abilities allow her to alter the color and texture of her body, allowing her to mimic artificial materials such as clothing. **'Regeneration' - Mystique is able to heal herself, but at a slow pace. When Wolverine stabbed her with his claws in X-Men (film), she became unconscious but the open wounds were seen healing themselves. She was also able to shape-shift into someone else while laying on the floor when guards came. Depending on the severity of the wound, it may take longer to heal and even leave behind a scar. For example, in X2: X-Men United Wolverine was able to identify Mystique based on the scars that he caused on her. Another example is in X-Men: Days of Future Past, Mystique had to seek medical care for serious wound caused by Magneto after he shot her and made the bullet travel along her leg. She was still limping from the injury long after, but could still move with her enhanced agility and speed. ***'Age Retardation' - Her metamorphic powers & low-level healing factor have retarded the degenerative effects of her ageing process, allowing her to biologically stay in a teenager or young adult while being 40-60 years old. ****'Superhuman Agility' - As a part of her mutation, Mystique possesses the extreme flexibility and agility. She was able to move her handcuffed arms from behind her back to her front, unlock clamps on her hands or strangle someone by using only her foot. She also kept her extreme agility despite her limping due to a fresh bullet wound in her leg. Abilities *'Multilingual' - Mystique is fluent in several languages - her native English, as well as German, French, Spanish, and Vietnamese. *'Acrobatic Skill' - Mystique has supernatural bodily awareness and control. This allows her to perform all kinds of leaps and spinning jumps/kicks with incredible precision. She can also slide over the floor at high speed and was even able to climb a pipe while being upside down with just her arms. *'Expert Infiltration' - Using her gift and planning Mystique can infiltrate anywhere. She has infiltrated the X-Men, The White House, military camps and much more. *'Expert Combatant' - Mystique is an extremely skilled hand-to-hand combatant, able to take out multiple guards with her enhanced agile moves. Her speed and body control allow her to move with acrobatic precision to avoid getting shot while quickly taking out multiple armed soldiers. While fighting Wolverine, she used her agility to dodge most of his moves, knocking him down multiple times. Even at close range, she was able to easily dodge his strikes and landing multiple strikes to his head, groin and stomach. The only reason she was not able to finish Wolverine, was because of his healing ability and adamantium skeleton. She did not demonstrate any combat prowess or martial arts skill in First Class, thus, it is likely she trained rigorously under Azazel who was the only mutant martial artist from the Brotherhood at the time. Weaknesses *'Appearance Limitation' - Although she can maintain the form of a person in terms of height, weight, and build indefinitely, the longer that she maintains the form, the greater the strain she feels. If she stays in a particular form for a long time, her eyes briefly turn yellow, potentially revealing her identity. She also cannot copy other mutants' powers. For example, when she fought Wolverine in X-Men, she assumed his form and fought him claw to claw, only to have her claws hacked off (as they were made of flesh). The only reason her false claws did not break immediately was due to her shape-shifting allowing her to change her texture, to the point where she could be in a blade lock with Wolverine's claws until he hit them hard enough to break them. *'Inability to Mimic Personalities and Memories:' - Mystique can not copy memories of the person she turns into. She can only partially imitate someone's personality and attitude, allowing perceptive enemies to see through her disguise. *'Inability to Change Body Scent:' - Although she can change her appearance, she can not change her body scent. During her fight against Wolverine in'' X-Men, Mystique attempted to fool him by sneaking up on him while disguised as his team mate Storm. However, Wolverine sniffed the air and recognized Mystique's scent. He then promptly stabbed and critically wounded her, catching her completely off guard. Friends and Family *Sabretooth - Teammate (Original Timeline) *Toad - Teammate (Original Timeline) *Pyro - Teammate (Original Timeline) Revised Timeline *Beast - Teammate and Love Interest *Havok - Teammate and Friend *Professor X - Foster Brother and Teammate *Wolverine - Enemy turned Savior *Darwin - Former Teammate *Moira MacTaggert - Teammate *Banshee - Former Teammate *Angel Salvadore - Teammate and Friend turned Enemy turned Teammate *Riptide - Enemy turned Teammate *Azazel - Enemy turned Teammate and Former Lover *Cyclops - Teammate *Jean Grey - Teammate *Quicksilver - Teammate *Nightcrawler - Son and Teammate Enemies *William Stryker - Enemy *Bolivar Trask - Enemy; First Victim (Original Timeline) *Magneto - Former Teammate, Former Mentor, and Former Lover *Sebastian Shaw - Enemy *Apocalypse - Enemy Trivia *Rebecca Romijn was actually naked when playing Mystique, with only layers of blue paint and a few very small costume pieces covering her up. When Jennifer Lawrence plays Mystique in ''X-Men: First Class, ''she developed a serious allergy caused by the body paint, and a specialist doctor had be to be called in, to the set, to tend to her after her skin broke out in rashes and boils. Fortunately for Lawrence, Mystique was wearing clothes often in First Class. Later in ''X-Men: Days of Future Past, Mystique returned to her nudist appearance, like that in the first three films, but this time, Jennifer Lawrence was given a blue suit up to her shoulders to reduce the 7 hours makeup procedure. *In the first film, Rebecca Romijn wore colored contacts to make her eyes yellow. In the second and third films, her eyes were changed digitally. *The movies don't suggest that she is Nightcrawler's mother, even though they had a brief conversation in X2: X-Men United. **However in the comics she and Azazel sired Nightcrawler. Whilst Mystique and Azazel were antagonists throughout most of "X-Men: First Class", they both join Magneto at the end. They possibly started a relationship afterwards. ***In "X-Men: Days of Future Past" Mystique finds an autopsy of Azazel (and their fallen comrades), she begins to break into tears, which could indicate that she was pregnant with Nightcrawler when Azazel died. ****In X-Men: First Class Mystique does not possess any of the acrobatic or martial arts ability that she does in X-Men: Days of Future Past to present. This implies she may have trained under Azazel, who heavily relies on Acrobatics and Martial Arts, whilst they were both part of Magneto's first brotherhood. This may have lead to the two having a more intimate relationship as she was in tears from seeing his autopsy and likely sired Nightcrawler before Azazel's death. ** Though not considered to be canon, the X-Men Origins: Wolverine video-game reveals that it is in fact John Wraith rather than Azazel who is Nightcrawler's father. *In the original ending for X-Men: Days of Future Past, Mystique was going to side with Charles after giving up her intentions to kill Trask as she returns back to Charles' mansion, where her gunshot wound is tended to by Hank, in addition to that she would appear in the altered future (with Rebecca Romijn considered to reprise her role) teaching a biology class with Hank and then in the past, it explains why Mystique knew of and rescued Logan (under the guise of Styrker). However, this was changed to Mystique escaping after giving up her intentions and then making her own agenda by shape-shifting into Stryker by retrieving a drowned Logan from the Potomac River after the producers felt that the ending was too unpredictable, thus her appearance in the altered future was not shot, but the ending was trimmed for pacing reasons. * Mystique was the one who originally came up with Lehnsherr's code name, Magneto. * Raven seems to display an attraction to Wolverine, despite the fact that he stabbed her in the first movie, and later rejected her in the second. * Wolverine and William Stryker are the only people in the movies to see through Mystique's disguise without the tell-tale yellow eyes, the former using his sense of smell, and the last when she imitated Wolverine, stating that he knows his own creations and that Mystique wasn't one of them. *In the movies, Mystique is portrayed as a nudist and appears naked throughout the course of the original trilogy. In X-Men: First Class it is shown that even as a child she was a nudist until she was convinced to wear clothing by Charles Xavier; later on, however, she was persuaded by Magneto not to, as he called her an "exquisite creature." In reality, this was done because the filmmakers wanted Mystique to be as sexually appealing to male audiences as possible, while being able to retain a PG-13 rating since she had blue, scaly skin. Rebecca Romijn was actually naked when playing Mystique, with only layers of blue paint and a few very small costume pieces covering her up. **The other reason for Mystique's nudism supposedly lies in clothing limiting her ability to shapeshift. However, in First Class, she is seen shapeshifting whilst wearing clothing on two separate occasions, with her clothes seemingly changing as she does. It is yet to be explained how this occurred or whether she was in fact naked and creating the appearance of clothing with her abilities (as in the comics). *The films do not suggest that Mystique is Nightcrawler's mother, even though they had a brief conversation in X2. *Mystique is bisexual in the comics, this has not been explored in the movies although she has often flirted with Magneto and Wolverine in the films. *Wolverine and William Stryker are the only people in the movies to see through Mystique's disguise without the tell-tale yellow eyes. Wolverine does so in the first movie by using his sense of smell, and Stryker in the second when she imitates Wolverine, stating that he knows his own creations and that Mystique wasn't one of them. *In the comics Mystique has blue skin instead of the scaly appearance she has in the films. *A scene from Days of Future Past featuring Mystique was featured in the credits of The Amazing Spider-Man 2. *Mystique appears in every film except X-Men Origins: Wolverine and The Wolverine. * In the extended 'Rogue Cut' of X-Men: Days of Future Past, before going to Washington, Mystique visits the X-Mansion and meets Hank McCoy. Raven says she decided to came back. But next morning she, disguised as Charles, goes to Cerebro's room and destroys the Cerebro helmet so Charles wouldn't be able to track her down. 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